UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
4 Mar
2009
Press Review
Today's papers in Kinshasa focus on the outcome of President Kabila's visit to Paris yesterday.
The headlines in La Tempête des Tropiques paper read: Paris: 50 million euros for aid to the DRC, explaining that the aid would be over a two year period and is provided by Paris as a part of the cooperation between the two countries. Paris also intends to write off 620 million euros of DRC debt, within the framework of the initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), reports the paper.
La Référence Plus further notes that Joseph Kabila has managed to persuade the business world in France to invest in the DRC. The paper indicates that French heads of companies showed ''a particular interest in investing in the DRC, which is just recovering from a deadly conflict''.
Le Phare, addressing the same issue, highlights that French investors took an interest in the streamlining of the macroeconomic framework and the restoration of peace to the DRC, while the French Government is willing to enhance its economic and military cooperation with the DRC Government.
The same paper echoes president Kabila's interview with the French paper Le Monde, highlighting that his replies to questions concerning genocide and war crimes ''made his interlocutors wince''. The paper says Joseph Kabila makes waves indicating that ''those who committed genocide and crimes against humanity will be brought to court whatever their positions in the Government''. The paper fears this issue will open Pandora's box, ''recalling the controversy raised by the dossier on cannibalism against the pygmies in Mambassa, Mangina and other districts in North Kivu in November-December 2002 and similar cases in Ankoro as well as in several other villages in North Katanga''.
This leads Forum des As to write, Joseph Kabila hands over Vice-Presidents and Ministers to Justice. The paper quotes a release issued by British press agency Reuters indicating that ''some of the DRC transitional cabinet ministers are accused by the international courts and others are accused of having collaborated with foreign countries''.
From Paris, the Congolese Head of State declared that the DRC transitional period would go all the way to the end, reports L'Avenir. '' The institutions have been in place for seven months now. There is no major crisis. There will be none and, therefore, the transition will go all the way to the end'', declared Joseph Kabila, quoted by the paper. The paper further says the Head of State declared himself in favor of an international conference on peace and security in the Great Lakes region, that will include central African countries. At the same time, he said he was expecting a ''mea culpa'' from the countries that aggressed the DRC, highlights the paper.
Le Potentiel, for its part, foresees a deadlock for the transition in regard to the ''distrustful climate that is setting in, the increasing underhand tricks, the compartmentalized management of the transition, the fear of the unknown and the lack of political maturity''. Noting that ''everything now hangs by a thread'', the paper highlights that ''political overheating has reached its height with the recent MLC decision to suspend its participation in cabinet meetings''. The trial of strength between the President of the National Assembly, Olivier Kamitatu and the first vice-president of the Parliament, Philomène Omatuku as well as president Kabila's last petition to the Supreme Court of Justice are the points that argue in ''favor of the cacophony'', according to the paper.
Referring once more to the dossier pitting Joseph Olenghankoy against the MLC, L'Observateur reveals that the Minister of Transport will retain his position within the cabinet following a decision made by the members of parliament drawn from the unarmed opposition. The paper further quotes a member of the Forces Novatrices pour l'Union et la Solidarité (FONUS) led by Olenghankoy as saying that the Government did not take MLC complaints into consideration due to lack of proof.
La Référence Plus further notes that Joseph Kabila has managed to persuade the business world in France to invest in the DRC. The paper indicates that French heads of companies showed ''a particular interest in investing in the DRC, which is just recovering from a deadly conflict''.
Le Phare, addressing the same issue, highlights that French investors took an interest in the streamlining of the macroeconomic framework and the restoration of peace to the DRC, while the French Government is willing to enhance its economic and military cooperation with the DRC Government.
The same paper echoes president Kabila's interview with the French paper Le Monde, highlighting that his replies to questions concerning genocide and war crimes ''made his interlocutors wince''. The paper says Joseph Kabila makes waves indicating that ''those who committed genocide and crimes against humanity will be brought to court whatever their positions in the Government''. The paper fears this issue will open Pandora's box, ''recalling the controversy raised by the dossier on cannibalism against the pygmies in Mambassa, Mangina and other districts in North Kivu in November-December 2002 and similar cases in Ankoro as well as in several other villages in North Katanga''.
This leads Forum des As to write, Joseph Kabila hands over Vice-Presidents and Ministers to Justice. The paper quotes a release issued by British press agency Reuters indicating that ''some of the DRC transitional cabinet ministers are accused by the international courts and others are accused of having collaborated with foreign countries''.
From Paris, the Congolese Head of State declared that the DRC transitional period would go all the way to the end, reports L'Avenir. '' The institutions have been in place for seven months now. There is no major crisis. There will be none and, therefore, the transition will go all the way to the end'', declared Joseph Kabila, quoted by the paper. The paper further says the Head of State declared himself in favor of an international conference on peace and security in the Great Lakes region, that will include central African countries. At the same time, he said he was expecting a ''mea culpa'' from the countries that aggressed the DRC, highlights the paper.
Le Potentiel, for its part, foresees a deadlock for the transition in regard to the ''distrustful climate that is setting in, the increasing underhand tricks, the compartmentalized management of the transition, the fear of the unknown and the lack of political maturity''. Noting that ''everything now hangs by a thread'', the paper highlights that ''political overheating has reached its height with the recent MLC decision to suspend its participation in cabinet meetings''. The trial of strength between the President of the National Assembly, Olivier Kamitatu and the first vice-president of the Parliament, Philomène Omatuku as well as president Kabila's last petition to the Supreme Court of Justice are the points that argue in ''favor of the cacophony'', according to the paper.
Referring once more to the dossier pitting Joseph Olenghankoy against the MLC, L'Observateur reveals that the Minister of Transport will retain his position within the cabinet following a decision made by the members of parliament drawn from the unarmed opposition. The paper further quotes a member of the Forces Novatrices pour l'Union et la Solidarité (FONUS) led by Olenghankoy as saying that the Government did not take MLC complaints into consideration due to lack of proof.
